New housing quicker to market

The Government is moving to make new homes available on the market quicker. New homes in new subdivisions will require consent within six months.

This will give developers in new subdivisions some certainty, as well as homeowners. Loans to tide the developers over while waiting for consent are less likely to needed, resulting in a reduction in new home prices.

More land for housing is likely to be freed up as well.

People in the red zones, some of whom have been waiting 18 months to 2 years for titles to be released in Rolleston subdivisions and biting their nails over whether their new homes will be built before they are evicted from the red zone, will be interested to hear about this.

It remains to be seen whether this makes housing significantly more affordable. No timeline has been given for these changes to be implemented.